“The action by the Indian Government to increase import duties and tighten quotas is further exacerbated by the immediate introduction that does not provide Australian exportes or Indian importers with the opportunity to manage current trade,” the five bodies said in a letter to Mr Turnbull.

“We encourage the Australian Government to make representation to seek to delay the ‘effective date’ for which India has proposed implementation of its revised import quotas and tariffs to allow existing committed shipments to arrive before the tariff comes into effect.”

The new tariffs come at a time when Mr Turnbull had commissioned the development of an Australia-India economic strategy, aimed at lifting the economic partnership between the two countries to a new level.

Australia exported 2.24 million tonnes of wheat to India last season — its highest level in more than 20 years.

India bought more than half of Australia’s field pea and chick pea crops over the past five years and 20 per cent of its lentils.

The total value of wheat and pulse sales to India in 2016 was more than $1.1 billion.

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